Teams of two or more compete against each other by completing Challenges in three categories: Art, Facts or Performance. Completing the Challenge successfully allows you to advance your token along the countdown—but fail, and you’ll be forced to do a Terrible Thing drawn from the Humiliation deck.

MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN GAME

A TERRIBLE TIME is available as a pay-what-you-want download for you to painstakingly print on perforated business card templates. When you’re done, take time to mentally prepare your party for what comes next. We suggest some alcoholic beverages, snacks, and smooth jazz.

HACK THE GAME

BE TERRIBLE

ART

CRAYON ART: One member of the team looks at the Terrible Thing on the card and draws it with the supplied crayons so that their teammates can guess it. The “drawer” cannot speak or use any letters or numbers (including Roman numerals, tally marks, etc.).

DRAW BLIND: The same as Crayon Art, only the person drawing must keep their eyes closed. If they open them at any time before their teammates correctly guess the Terrible Thing, the team immediately fails the Challenge.

SHITTY TATTOOS: The same as Crayon Art, except the person drawing must use the washable marker (provided) to draw on a teammate’s body. The person being drawn on is allowed to guess the Terrible Thing.

FACTS

DISCRIMINATION: Correctly identify the two (2) entries (from a list of six (6)) that do not belong. Some cards have hints on them to clarify what the entries that belong have in common, in case you need training wheels.

PRO-CHOICE: Choose the correct answer to the question from the four choices provided.

Q&A: Answer the question correctly.

REALITY CHECK: Listen to the statement and determine whether it’s true or false using your brain thoughts. Or flip a coin. No one cares.

PERFORMANCE

CENSORSHIP: The performer must get their teammates to guess the two Terrible Things without saying any of the words listed on the card.

CHARADES: One player gets their teammates to guess the Terrible Thing by communicating only through movement. The performer may not speak, write, or use sign language. I mean, it’s charades. Anyone who doesn’t know how to play charades is a communist.

IMPROV: One member of the team performs the Terrible Thing on the card while their teammates guess what the Terrible Thing is. The performer may speak during their performance, but cannot say any part of the Terrible Thing, nor can they simply describe the Terrible Thing—they must *act it out*, mainly for the benefit of the teammates and opponents who wish to ridicule them.

OBJECTIFICATION: The same as IMPROV, except the performer *must* use another teammate (who remains unaware of the Terrible Thing’s identity) as either a prop or a fellow character in the performance of the Terrible Thing. The “used” teammate is still allowed to guess the Terrible Thing.

HUMILIATION

In the event that a team fails to successfully complete a Challenge, that team draws a Humiliation card from the black deck. Humiliations are Terrible Things that the team must do or allow to be done to them (the Humiliation card will say which). If the Humiliation only applies to one player, the team that drew the card may decide which of its players will be subjected to the Humiliation.

The Chicken-Shit Rule (Optional): If a team draws a Humiliation that they really, really, really don’t want to do, they can declare “We’re Chicken-Shit” (seriously, make them say it, one-by-one if you want) and, instead of performing the Humiliation, they can move their piece back one space.

MAVERICK

Some Humiliation cards are marked “MAVERICK!,” meaning that they don’t actually inflict Humiliations on the person that drew them. Instead, Maverick! cards allow the team that drew the card to affect the game in some way, as explained on the card itself. Usually, this takes the form of forcing extra Humiliations on other teams. If your team draws a Maverick!, don’t draw an additional Humiliation—you’ve dodged the bullet.